Prisoner Rehabilitation: Work, Education, and Sports Programs

Companies ready to offer work to prisoners are growing and, in general, activities carried out outside prisons are also increasing. This is what we read on the website of the Ministry of Justice, which processed the data contained in the 2025 judicial administration report.

The work

The first data highlighted concerns external work which, in 2025, it grew by 15% compared to two years earlier. «The objective», the ministry says, «is to make the percentage comparable to that of work employed by the administration, which remains stable in first place in terms of employment level: 18,004 out of 21,354 prisoners engaged in work activities». The data regarding restricted female workers is particular, given that they represent 44% of the total number of inmates, 1,222 out of 2,747. The percentage exceeds that of men (33.5% of the total). Furthermore, the number of companies ready to offer work to imprisoned people is expanding, thanks to the benefits and tax relief provided by the Smuraglia law. The report, in fact, records a 38% increase in new beneficiary businesses. For the year 2025, there were 708 authorized requests for access to benefits, for the planned hiring of 2,781 prisoners

Education

As regards the school in prison, in the year 2024/2025 they were 19,391 detained people were involved in first level education courses (primary school and language certification), with more than three thousand promoted, and secondary school, with over 4,700 promoted.

The theatre

Furthermore, 2025 was the year of the establishment of the Fund for the promotion and support of theatrical activities in prison, which guarantees 500 thousand euros of annual resources until 2027. The resources made it possible to support 43 projects, they explain from via Arenula.

Sports

Finally, on the sports side, 46 sports training projects were financed and active in 2025with the provision of a maximum contribution of 20 thousand euros per project.